My dilemma

First, thanks to sister Laurie, who leads the local Central Iowa-area alumnae group, for getting me a list of all Rho Beta alums.

All 1,005 of them.

There are e-mails for about one-third of them. And I know the forward-to-a-friend aspect from all of you has already helped get the word out; I recognize a good number of those addresses.

The dilemma - this is a grassroots effort. (Thanks, Aimee - I don't think I am going to let you forget that this was really your idea!) We have no budget, no official committee (yet - a few of you have said you'll help, and I think we'll get together this summer - all are welcome).

I certainly don't want to leave anyone out, so I am looking for any and all suggestions for reaching out to sisters who aren't linked in to us via e-mail or Christmas/holiday letters.

Ideas (remember, no bad ideas in brainstorming):

• Keep it viral. The original e-mail's been forwarded four times over, we're on Facebook. This is 2008 and it's how people do things.


• Ask volunteers to invest a little time and money in sending letters (5-10 each?) to a list of sisters directing them to the blog/e-mail. A one-time only promotion?


• Talk to Drake about any efforts they have we can get in on.


• Talk to Chi Omega Alumnae reps about any efforts they have we can get in on.


• Get a daredevil to scale down the Empire State Building with a promotional message and hope he or she gets substantial news coverage without serious injury.

Leave a comment or e-mail me if you have other ideas or a burning desire to help.

Whoooooooo's out there?

Enough of me talking. Your turn. Please comment and let us know you're out there. Based on the early response from a little e-mail I sent out, there's lots of you.

Who are you? Where are you? What are you doing? And who are you doing it with?

Future posts might ask your favorite Chi-O or Drake memory, so don't feel like you have to spill everything right now. I have many months of conversation to keep going between now and April 2009.

I went first. I started the blog, I get to do that :)

357 days and counting*

Welcome!

Clearly, I have no idea what's in store. I sent an e-mail to 15 of my Chi-O sisters and sat back to see the response.

Within three days, I was overwhelmed with 28 e-mails and 60+ more e-mail addresses. They are extremely organized in the mother of all spreadsheets. (Anyone who knew me in college knows that this is clearly a lie ... I'm one step above tracking all of you in a spiral notebook.)

I don't know what shape this reunion will take. We have about 11.5 months to figure that out. For now, let's just figure out who's interested, try to connect with lost sisters, and learn a little more about what's happened on campus since our Owl and Bulldog days.

A little housekeeping

• At this time, I can't figure out if I can password protect this blog on the freebie account.
• But I did limit anyone's ability to find us in search engines - just to keep it among us gals.
• If you want to send family photos, old Jolesch photos (yo, pic chick!), life updates, etc ..., I will gladly post them.
• What you put in the comments is up to you.

You can e-mail me your information so I have a way to contact you. And if another sister contacts me and says, "Hey, is that 'Salsa' who's posting by chance Susan** and do you know how I can get a hold of her?" ... I'm gonna hook you up.

That is, if I manage not to mess up my spreadsheet.

*Salsa = Journalism major; always doublecheck her math
**Yes, Salsa=Susan